A Bud That Blossoms
by winnable
Summary: After inheriting his Title as Chief, Hiccup has a lot more responsibility. Will he live up to the challenge? Or will the pull to explore become too strong?
1. Chapter 1

Yup, another day on Berk, Hiccup thought as he watched yet another house burning from carelessness. Now, as a Chief he had new responsibilities to the people of Berk. Not just to the dragons. And that was proving to be a lot more effort.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut! We need at least another bucket or two of water." The lanky looking twins nodded determinedly and flew towards the well, located in the centre of the village. "Fishlegs, guard the area, make sure no one tries to steal anything and that no one gets hurt. We really don't need a repeat of last week.." Hiccup ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "On it!" replied Fishlegs, already combing the area with his devoted gronkle. At least I can rely on these guys to get the little jobs done, Hiccup thought. Now, that left...

"Alright ladies, stand back! Nothin's gonna hurt you while Snotlout is here." ...Snotlout. Hiccup noticed him standing a few houses down from the fire, surrounded by viking women all wearing worried expressions. Hiccup rolled his eyes but left him to his own devices. At least he wasn't causing any trouble.

"Hiccup, I got th-" Astrid yelled from the sky before noticing Snotlout. "..Odin, what is wrong with the women in this tribe?!" She jumped and landed with precision about a metre away, her dragon Stormfly carrying more water. "I better not answer that or I'll be replaced as Chief, " Hiccup chuckled but went on with his duty. He and Astrid did what they could to reduce the flames before the twins got back. After he threw the last bucket over the roof he exclaimed to Astrid, "I think this is a new record for Berk, half a dozen house fires in a week and not caused by Dragons!" A cheer came from behind and the two whipped their heads to find, no doubt, the twins.

"Whoo! You hear that Ruffnut? We set a new record for most fires!" "Awesome...!" Ruffnut agreed, her mouth open at their achievement. "Guys, this is not a good thing! If we ranked that achievement from 1 - 10 it would be a 0!" Hiccup emphasized his point by curling his fingers into the shape of a zero and then pretended to blow it up. "Ohh, harsh. Glad we're not part of that." Tuffnut continued in all seriousness, nudging his sister. Astrid rolled her eyes. Meanwhile, the house was still burning.

"Uh, Twins, do you think you can handle the rest of this...?" Hiccup asked uncertainly. "Of course, we can! Yeah! Wait...can we?" Tuffnut turned to his Sister. "Obviously," she drawled, 'We're Vikings!" It wasn't hard to see who wore the pants in their relationship. Well, to be fair, not many people wear pants in Berk, but still.

"Okay, I'm counting on you. Don't let me down. Come on, bud." Hiccups dragon had many titles, The Alpha, The Night fury, Toothless, but was often referred to as bud. Toothless gave the Twins two-headed dragon a look that said, 'no messing around' and then flew off with his human. He also noticed that Stormfly was following with hers.

"So...? Where are you going?" Astrid asked curiously. Hiccup thought about telling her of his plans but he decided against it, some things just had to be done alone. "Pfft. What do you mean, where? I have to check on the food supply like I do every other thorsday afternoon.." Astrid knew something was up, she could tell when he was lying. He always did this twitchy thing with his eyebrows. Also, the direction he was flying was a big giveaway.

"Hmm, well I can't quite recall, but I thought that was changed to the day after...?" Astrid narrowed her eyes at him. "Uhhhhh...you got me." He slumped in his saddle, sighing. How did she do that? he thought. More importantly, why did he let her? "Are you going to let me in on your secret? Or will I have to force it out of you?" She pressed her hand against the top of Stormfly's neck and the dragon sent out a single spike that shot past Hiccups ear.

"Ah, uh! How many times have I told you not to-" Astrid interrupted him by sending another spike. "-do that..." "Okay...I won't." Stormfly of her own accord sent another 3 spikes over Hiccups head and then Astrid rode her under and over Toothless leaving her upside-down in front of Hiccups face. Astrid smirked but it faulted when she saw Hiccup with the same expression. Suddenly, his lips were on hers but they left just as quickly. Seeing her dazed expression he took this chance to fly away without explaining a thing.

"I'll get you for that, Hiccup!" she said half seriously, then flew off to check on the twins. Sure, Hiccup trusted them, she thought, but she was not going to let the whole village burn down because of it!

**So anyone interested in what Hiccup is upto? Lemme know if you got any theories slash ideas?**

**Please read and review! x**


	2. Chapter 2

Hiccup had felt for a long time, even before his father's death, that he wasn't ready. Not to be Chief, to be a family man, to be the person who makes all the tough choices. There was still so much out there he wanted to explore! He hadn't discovered something new since Itchy Armpit, a rather large island that seemed to stretch for miles. It didn't seem right to abandon the village at such an early stage of his reign so he put it off, until now.

"We're finally doing this, Bud!" Hiccup grinned and let out a cheer. Toothless, at that moment, gained speed. "Woohoooo! This is a-mazing!" The pair weaved in and out of cliffs and boulders in the ocean and headed higher into the clouds. "It's been a while since we've done this bud, so let's take it slow." Hiccup unclipped himself from his saddle and pushed his hands against Toothless to haul himself up. His metal leg swung just as well as his fleshy leg and soon he was standing on the dragons back. "Okay bud, on my signal, 1...2-" Toothless cheekily knocked his rider off with a quick wriggle.

"Wha...ohhhh!" Hiccup fell head first towards the sea. Not exactly what i had planned toothless, he thought, but it will have to do. Toothless let out a sound that only a Night Fury could make and dived down to join in the fun. "Alright...gotcha!" Hiccup grabbed onto the leather harness and clipped himself back onto his ride. Together they spiralled down closer and closer to the tip of the ocean and then at the last second pulled back into a glide. Hiccup reached out his hand and touched the salty water, he loved that feeling. He sighed and then grew a determined look. "...it's time."

Meanwhile, back at the village, the twins had successfully put out the house fire but not without setting fire to themselves first. Astrid watched calmly as they ran towards the well, screaming and laughing and fanning the flames. They actually seemed to be enjoying themselves, Astrid thought.

After seeing everything was under control she jumped back on Stormfly and headed to Hiccups home to meet with his Mother, Valka. As expected, Valka greeted her with open arms. "Come in, come in! Right on time for a cup of warm yaks milk." Astrid resisted the urge to pull a face. Valka had lost around 19 years of being motherly and tried to make up for it in various ways, warm yaks milk was one of the favourites and Astrid had soon grown a distaste for it. "And a few chicken scraps for Stormfly." Stormfly perked up at hearing chicken and made a gurgling noise. Valka gave Stormfly a scratch on the nose and both girls laughed. "You never get tired of dragons!" "Valka-" Astrid began. "Oh no, call me Mum. After all, you are my future daughter in-law!" Astrid blushed at that statement, technically Hiccup hadn't asked yet but it seemed that the village assumed he had already proposed. With his new role as Chief he'd soon be needing an heir and well, that required a wife. Astrid had to admit she wouldn't say no to such a proposal, especially if Hiccup was the one who asked. That made her blush harder. "O-okay... Mum," she stammered. "That's my girl, now what did you want to ask me?" Valka smiled, rested her hand on Astrids shoulder and gently guided her inside the house. "I thought you might be able to tell me something about this-" Valka stared in shock at the item Astrid pulled out from her satchel. "Oh dear.."

**Any clues yet as to what Hiccup might be doing? Do tell. And what has Astrid found?**

**Please read and review! x**


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